OCR Text |
Show 5f .dyHaaaft lt1eflrife 'VSTVilBBBBBBBiiPHH aJ9 Herd of Llamas In Peru. jH (Prepared by the National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C.) Peru, which has been celebrating the hundredth nnnlversnry of Its Independence In-dependence from Spnln, in the presence pres-ence of commissioners ofllclnlly representing repre-senting tho United Stntes and other nations, Is far enough out of the beaten path of most North Americans to be but vaguely known to them. It Is often thought of, no doubt, as n little republic clinging to the sides of the lofty Andes lest It slip nnd be lost In the Pnclflc. But In- area and interest Peru Is by no means negligible; neg-ligible; and If It has failed to take an Important place In world affairs, either commercial or political, It may well be thnt thnt fact is due, not to lnck of slzo nnd resources and potential poten-tial wealth and power, but rather to Immaturity. Peru has every cllmnto under heaven, together with mnny of tho products and conditions thnt go with1 them. It lias the sand dunes of the Sahara; the fertile, sun-bathed, Irrigated Irri-gated valleys of California; the dry grazing lands or Australia; the productive pro-ductive mountain valleys nnd uplands of Kashmir; the bleak plateaus of Tibet; the snowy penks of Switzerland Switzer-land ; nnd the tropical Jungles of Central Cen-tral Africa nnd Brazil. And off Its shores, tropical In latitude but mild In temperature, the waters, so cold that often they are uncomfortable for bathing, bath-ing, are nllve with tho sea life of the nenr-antarctlc. Much of Peru Is occupied by tho towering Andes, with few passes less than 15,000 feet high, und with numerous numer-ous peaks exceeding 21,000 feet. These grent ramparts aro chiefly responsible re-sponsible for the diversity of Pern's climatic conditions. They precipitate tho moisture of the Atlantic winds and so create tho tropical Jungles that stretch from their bases toward the Interior of the continent; thrust slopes nnd platcans up Into the cool regions of the upper nlr; nnd cut off tho Pacific Pa-cific const section from the moisture-laden moisture-laden winds, making much of It a desert. Coast Strip Has Rivers but No Qaln. Although tho strip of Peru between the Pacific nnd tho western foothills of tho Andes Ib devoid of rnln nnd largely desert, many streams from the mountains brenk ncross this region to tho sen, and tho relatively narrow valleys. val-leys. Irrigated from their wa'ters, constitute con-stitute the most fertile land of tho country. Most of the desert land between tho parallel rivers Is not so from lack of fertility but because of tho absence of life-giving water, This Is n most unusual region lying within the tropics and adjoining the sea, where normally normal-ly vegetable growth would be abundant. abund-ant. If It could be viewed from n dlstnnce of n thousand miles through a telescope It would probably appear much as the supposed canals of Mars linvo been described ns appearing to Borne observers flnrk, roughly pnrnllel lines of vcgetntlon on n drab, verdure-less verdure-less background. Some of tho bench lands hnvo been reclaimed for considerable consid-erable distances from tho rivers, and projects have been considered to Impound Im-pound the waters that rush down from the melting Andean snows and bring tinder cultivation practically the whole coast region. Peru has an area of about 700,000 squatty miles nnd Is therefore only slightly smaller than Mexico nnd well over a qunrter the size of the United States exclusive of Alaska, If Pent could be laid down on the surface of the United States so that Its southernmost southern-most point coincided with the southernmost south-ernmost projection of Texas Its northeastern north-eastern corner would lie near Peoria, III., nnd Its northwestern extremity near Cheyenne, Wyo. The rough triangle tri-angle would cover practically all of Texas, Oklahoma nnd KnnBas, half or Nebraska, parts of Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, Iowa nnd South Dakota, and fragments "of New Mexico and Wj i-t.ig. k,re the Incse Flourished. i 13 tho United States was settled set-tled from the Atlantic const and developed de-veloped first Its coastal strip, lenvlng ns an unknown region for generations the country to the west boyond Its mountains and deserts, so Peru has developed In the reveiso direction. The European conquerors of Its Inca empire entered the country from the I'a-lllc coast, and It Is along this strip of const land that European blood idjH culturo have made themselves rnostHI strongly felt. SHE To the east rise the three towertqjB ranges of the Andes, their slopqHi peaks und Intervening valleys iodK plateaus constituting the "Slcrrn,'' tkjK second of the three grent geographic B divisions of Peru. In this lof.y rcglcgjE the Incn civilization held sway nltljK a mnrvelously Intricate, but ctricteot tBc-governmental tBc-governmental machine, before tbilw Spanish come. Cuzco, the capital otHH the Incn empire,-was situated In a ftrK tile, protected valley of the Stem rtjHie1 glon, and remains todny one of tttB Important Penivlnn towns. Its pnpijHj A Intlon now, however, Is only 15.IqMLii about one-tenth thnt or the city wtnlSoi It wns the Babylon of the nestmjftic hemisphere. Hd In the almost Inaccessible country tiBf the northwest of Cuzco, and less ttuK-'d T0 miles distant, hidden nw-ny amotBci the mountains, was Maclni I'icchu.litjBi'ti secret city where the forcrunncn atjE l: the Incns, almost destroyed by WiHuo burluns, nursed their clvllirntlon MijBic culture for centuries before going ocK,,, Into tho vnlleys and founding tbt!tHrL. grent cmplro. This old city, vthonjR,,,, existence hnd been only a tradltloKs for hundreds of years, was (llscorenH.,'. In 1011 and uncovered In 1012 by jK ', pedltlons of the Nntlonnl GcourupDK society and Yule university. fm The Sierra, or region of mountalBjBL,. vnlleys nnd plateaus, Is still the ,1-'B.III of the heirs of the Incns. In this poBjj tlon of Peru lives tho largest slofjK clement In the population, the clriBC.n Ized Indians, descendants of tlio InnHKi , Though tho population of Peru l MBg known accurately. It Is estimated 98; '' be nbout 5.000,000. The Indians tho Sierra number close to 2.000,00ft BK Immense Mineral Resources. Rm0, In the Penivlnn Sierra, too, are liH, mining developments. Peru's rnlnertKI1(j, resources nro nlmost lnexlinu$tlt'jMLv Gold nnd silver nro the minerals jNEren which most emphasis wus placed lKlll the Spnulnrds. Fortunes In both veH'f, removed from tho country, but nR(, deposits rcmnln. In recent years cL per has led other minerals In the T,!K(,U. of prodpctlon. The copper mlneKV Cerre de Pasco are among the rlctiB "' In the world. Almost every ralut'ff sw' sul!stance known Is believed to luHPri" been compounded In nature's IK'W, Andean laboratory. , The list of PB : ucts from Peruvian mines covers ""Ro, of the nlphnbet from antimony B vnnndlum. Of grent Importance BUI the petroleum wells of the 'ortbH0 j const, whoso production Is ncxtHL,,,, vnlue to tlic country's copper ""'PK!.. To tho enst or tho Andes. cutK ,) from tho more developed Por"0BjKjt j the country, lien tho third gcograptilgK ( division, tho region known n9JR.0i Mnntnnn, Peru's land of the DttjBvy,' This pnrt of tho republic Is uiadclK":' of the wooded landwnrd slopes ofB,u,r' Andes, grassy foothills, nnd the '1Hm', little-known jungles nnd forests tB , sprend out to the enst for n tliouMp th miles or more along the brond TIJHr Cl of the Amazon and Its tributaries-jHr' cause of the heavy rnlnfnil the groBd. or vegetation In this part of rtjV1' "' believed to bo as henvy ns onyHp bu elso In the world. Even nt inldduBJ some of the forests tho Hi-iit UJHL l brighter thnn at twilight lu (Mgmv country. In n glade, with i'm f' vegetation on all sides, one feels ''rle.s he hns been dropped down '""nR" "a bottom of a deep green-lined pit- jB"'r, The country on the eastern ilBJtlicn of tho Andes nnd on the foothllUBF'moi fpre the dense forest is renched j1" vli been settled very spnrsoly ; but W mi thousands of square miles of Ken. 1 Jungle tho foot of civilized man ilns 0 never trod. A few tribes of unfMown I Ized Indians roam through thcM V norm est depths. Bt prh Mnny large rivers rising on tM'M crn slopes of tho Andes, flow TB To the Montana region of Peru, Into' uslu Ell, and finally find their way lnilent o Atlantic 2,000 miles away, throuiihor, v mighty Amazon. Ocean vesso'J isTPmpaR, the Amnzon to Iqultos, lfc "If Bf " 1 of enstern Peru, nenrly 200 m Hn nTMr. In Penivlnn territory; nnd W Vore on bonts tho Journey may be contw Jiodny within 200 miles of the Pacific. So na, many of the rivers In eastern 'ebrn towns of some Importance, ww "fflyan. h tho outposts of Penivlnn civ l'Tr ,j0S(? commerco and government In " Sta'ted lated trans-Andean cmplro. B |